We are all Emotional Beings

We are all Emotional Beings

In the past emotions have been a women's domain, not rational, and therefore not of value. Thankfully it is broadly accepted now that we are all emotional beings. Every memory, thought, action and decision we make involves emotions. Recognising and acknowledging them helps us to understand, and regulate them. We feel emotions in our body, these feelings are information. Noticing these feelings and naming the emotion creates a pause, time to sit with the emotion, think and respond, rather than react. Sometimes no response is the best response.   

Negative emotions narrow our focus and attention, which is very important in times of danger. Did you know that we are all hard wired to see what’s wrong faster, and more often than what’s right? We feel negative events more intensely because they represent a threat to us. This is our negative bias. Negative emotions are important, they send us messages to keep us safe. However if we spend too much time in the negative, our negative bias can take over.  

To regulate our negative bias we need to look for the good, what is right with ourselves, our children, our family and the world. Positive emotions like gratitude, joy, happiness, hope, love and inspiration lift us and help us see what’s possible. They activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and decrease the stress response. 

Positive Emotions benefit mental and physical health, social relationships and academic outcomes (Fredrikson 2001). 

They also help us be more:
- collaborative
- creative
- flexible and open to possibilities for action

References:  

1. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions theory and research in positive

psychology: The Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist,

56(3), 218-226.

2. Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359, 1367-1377.